Dinner Tonight: Roger Ebert's Chicken with Fragrant Rice Recipe

I've heard of people cooking entire meals in a rice cooker but I'd never tried it—until now. So far, I'm just in love with its intended function: perfect rice every time, and a warming function that means I never have to worry about timing again. Still, the idea of throwing some rice, chicken stock, vegetables and meat into a rice cooker and having dinner ready in under an hour is pretty appealing, even if the result is a bit humble.

It became very appealing when a food writer at the Austin American-Statesman called this recipe "the most delicious chicken and rice dish in memory."

It comes from Roger Ebert's new cookbook The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker, a strange departure not only for a film critic but for someone who has lost the ability to eat or speak. No matter, this is the kind of comfort-food dish that everyone should have in their repertoire. It's adaptable and foolproof (as the book's thesis goes: "the pot knows" when it's done cooking, so you don't have to), fragrant with garlic and ginger, full of tender nuggets of chicken, and damn delicious. My only addition was to drizzle the whole thing with Sriracha hot sauce, which I recommend if you need a little spice like me.

Directions

1.

Dissolve the bouillon cube in the water and combine rice in the rice cooker with the oils, salt, garlic, and ginger. Stir well, then place the chicken and vegetables on top. Turn on the rice cooker and allow it to cook until finished. (This recipe could also be prepared in a medium saucepan with a lid: proceed by bringing to a boil and simmering over low heat until the rice is cooked.)

2.

Once ready, stir the ingredients well to coat the rice with oil and serve with Sriracha or other hot sauce, if desired.

Born and raised in Chicago, one of Blake's earliest food memories was a Chicago-style hot dog with all the toppings. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

As a co-founder of The Paupered Chef And a Serious Eats Contributor since the beginning, Blake has been writing about food regularly since 2006. He currently contributes weekly to Dinner Tonight and writes the Chicago-based column Sausage City. He studied professional cookery at Kendall College in Chicago, and is creative director of Jamco Creative, an outfit in Chicago that specializes in social media marketing.

PREVIEW YOUR COMMENT

HTML Hints

Comment Guidelines

Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more in the Comment Policy section of our Terms of Use page.